Gauche and Unsophisticated List: Now with musicals!

Right now I'm watching the Tony Awards, and in keeping with my gauche and unsophisticated taste, I keep tuning out during the focus on the plays and hope they show another colorful musical number soon. Also, now I totally even want to see Rock of Ages even though I'm sure theater snobs will roll their eyes and moan about how the modern musical is merely an mish-mash of past pop songs, and that nobody writes original music anymore. But...Don't Stop Believing is one of the numbers! If I get to New York soon, I will be elbowing the little old ladies and gay tourists in the TKTS line for tickets to this and 9 to 5. But, I have no interest in seeing Next to Normal. None! Is it so wrong that I don't want to watch a musical about manic depression? This, combined with my great dislike of Rent (ugh - the entitlement, Maureen's twittiness (poor Joanne), the whining - and for all its claims to modernity it certainly seems to still contain every musical stock character and every tedious cliche ever, sigh....), probably will cause me to be shunned by all musical aficionados. However, even I rolled my eyes when Poison came out during the Rock of Ages opening number. This is the Tony's...not a hasbeen's last gasp (after the attempted country music career and three dating shows on VH-1 - that I have not watched) at relevance!

For the past two months, I haven't been watching as much terrible TV, reading cheesy, everything-is-resolved-at-the-end-of-the-book, mystery novels, watching ridiculous romantic comedies because I was in this little production.



However, Urinetown is over now (and some of my fellow cast members have been cast in a Peoria community production of Rent - I hope they forgive the above rant.), and I have discovered new shameful shows and movies.

I have actually been to the movie theater quite a bit this spring. This non-Trekkie (such a non-Trekkie that growing up I gently mocked my poor neighbor GoodKevGuy about his adoration over Star Trek: The Next Generation, sorry Kev!) adored the reboot of Star Trek, and today I bawled through Up (I think I may have scared the many children at the matinee) . However, a month ago I went to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, and I loved it, despite the fact that it was predictable. I did not understand all the vitrol that critics and other bloggers had about this movie. It was an adorable, fluffy cupcake of a movie, it made me feel warm and fuzzy, and I will own it on DVD.

Currently my DVR is filled with shows on which I need to catch up. I claim to adore both Pushing Daisies and Ugly Betty on my Facebook profile, but I still have not watched the last three episodes of Ugly Betty even though it's season ended four weeks ago, and I haven't watched the latest two episodes of the Pushing Daisies burn off. However, I have kept up with Wipeout and Greek. And I've found time to become addicted to two more shows.

Big Break: Prince Edward Island: This is a reality show on the golf channel about up and coming golfers competing for $100,000. It is refreshing how most of the show focuses on the golfers competing in challenges, and there is very little reality show drama. Normally, I hate golf, and I do not understand how anyone could be entertained by it on TV. I'm also terrible at golf - the grip is uncomfortable, I cannot drive, the one time I played with my fellow PPE majors I did not make par on one hole, and the best part of that day was the free Chipotle lunch. Somehow though, this show is compelling, and I relate to how all of the golfers keep yelling (well it's more a yell whisper) at the ball to SIT! I also talk to inanimate objects (especially my computer at work), so I can relate. Also there are some great compelling characters such as delusional Brian with his overwrought metaphors, and snarky Brenda. I want to be friends with snarky Brenda. I'll even play18 holes of golf with snarky Brenda, and she'll mock me, but I'll have a fabulous time anyway.

McLeod's Daughters: So this Australian soap opera ended over a year ago, and it's first season was back in 2001, and the show stopped running on the WE network in the US in 2006, but I now just started watching the show on cough..YouTube...cough. This show is about about two sisters who are reunited after twenty years when they both inherit their father's ranch, Drovers Run. Claire grew up with her father on the ranch, and her half-sister Tess was taken away from the ranch when she was very young, and grew up in "the city." The ranch is struggling, so Tess decides to stay on and help Claire work the ranch. They also have help from housekeeper/mother-figure Meg, her spoiled daughter Jodi, and Becky, who is seeking refuge at the ranch after a traumatic experience. Of course next door, there is Killarney, run by the Ryan family, headed by bastard with a heart of gold, Harry, and snobby, Liz, with their two handsome, flirtatious, so-obviously-the-love-interests, sons Alex and Nick, and in early seasons Killarney has the ranch hand Brick, whose only flaw is his mullet, and Terry who is having a secret (only to Jodi) relationship with Meg. The early seasons are glorious. Love triangles! Wacky hijinks to catch a rapist! Having to put down sick ranch animals with great significance to the family! Babies on doorsteps! Melodramatic affairs! Strippers getting stranded at the ranch! Running away! A one-armed mailman! The cutest love story ever between Becky and Brick! Yet, despite the cheesy, cliched storylines, the character actually have more depth than this show deserves, and occasionally there seems to be some realistic depiction of ranch life. Go, go watch it now, so I can have someone else to talk about it with.

Unfortunately, it started to go off the rails in season three. SPOILERS, THESE ARE SPOILERS, DON'T WHINE AT ME IF YOU READ THEM AND THEN ARE ANNOYED THAT I GAVE AWAY PLOT POINTS ...they killed Brick and tried to replace him with Jake the secret millionaire who was not interesting, wrote off Liz Ryan and added the uber lame Sandra Kinsella, and killed Claire, and eventually by the end of the series all the original characters have left the ranch and either moved to Argentina or died. So I've only watched a few post season three episodes that were really conclusions to plot points that began to established in earlier seasons...I mean I had to see Nick and Tess get married. SPOILERS OVER NOW.

But I have rewatched numerous episodes from seasons one and two. This show is quite addictive in the early years, and I promise it's actually compelling. However, the theme song is so cheesy that you would need bread pieces for the fondue. Behold:



Now, I have been cast in Seussical: The Musical, so I might be unable to watch as much bad summer TV as normal. Hopefully my fellow Seussical cast members will forgive my grave hatred of Rent and disinterest in Next to Normal and not shun me from all cast outings.

Neener, neener...Billy Corgan is not that deep after all!

Reading about this news filled me with such joy! I no longer need to feel guilty about not understanding Billy Corgan's pain. All he needed to do to not feel like a rat in the cage is to date an MTV famewhore who cannot sing.

Of course, I was tempted to call Sis RoyalTurkey and brag. Unfortunately, I then remembered that I would have to explain to her who Tila Tequila was. (Now, I do have some standards, and the only reason I know who she is, is because I saw previews to her dating show when I watched the RW/RR Extreme Challenge.) Damn it!

Gauche and Unsophisticated List: Such a refined palate!

In my everyday, non-blogging, life I do try to maintain some pretentions of good taste when it comes to food. I ranted about how the hot sauce in Boston could have been consumed by me when I was two. I discussed how I adored tapas, and that squid in ink is acutally quite delicious. Now that I live in the midwest I hesitate to eat the seafood because there is no ocean nearby and therefore that means the seafood is frozen (gasp!). I proclaimed my love for dim sum, even though I've actually only gone for dim sum twice in my life. I watch Top Chef and mock the cheftestants when they use canned crab (but then again Hosea won that season - ugh!) or frozen scallops (thank goodness Spike Asshat was finally eliminated that episode). I know what a CSA is.

Despite my claims to good taste and my willingness to be adventurous, however, let's take a look at what I order when I go to all these different restaurants that I'm so open and willing to try.
* Thai - Pad Thai (2.5 stars)
* Chinese - Sweet and Sour Pork or General Tso's Chicken, or Orange Chicken when I go to Panda Express
* Mexican - Steak Fajitas
* Indian - Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan
* Italian - Cheese Ravioli
* Seafood - the fried seafood platter, or seafood drenched in butter lemon sauce
* Greek - Kebabs or Gyros
* Sushi - the California roll, a tempura roll, or the spicy shrimp roll with cooked shrimp

Drink of choice wherever I go - Coca Cola!

I think that about says it all.

Why can't things like this happen at my mall food court?

I've discovered indie, edgy Canadian musicians!

Unfortunately the only reason I know these songs and these artists is because I heard the songs on episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation, and then either went to the Degrassi.tv page or looked up the lyrics on Google. Though I have given up Degrassi for the most part, I have watched a few episodes this season because amazingly most of the new characters for season eight are actually good (and KC and Claire's nerd crushing is adorable, but I'm sure the Degrassi writers will destroy it somehow). Whenever I watch a few season eight episodes though I just pretend that the characters that had terrible write offs - Alex, Ashley, Craig, Sean, Terri - are actually leading happy and productive lives. And this happy Degrassi alternate universe has better writing.

Anyway, on to my great musical discoveries. And video clips because they're indie artists and actually let you imbed videos.

First is "Beautiful House" by Leeroy Stagger. This played during at the beginning of Our Lips Are Sealed, Part Two, where annoying Emma Nelson is struggling with her two episode eating disorder and unable to open up to her mother Spike (the teenage mom from the first Degrassi series). This clip was filmed at some cafe somewhere, and I would wait for it to load and then start playing it about a minute in because there's a lot of banter.



Then after that glorious discovery. I then also fell in love with the song Carol.



Then on the most recent episode of Degrassi: TNG (in Canada - the US is a few episodes behind), that I watched on YouTube (I will not contribute to its US ratings!); Jane Says, Part 2, I heard Sleeping Sickness by City and Colour. This song played when Jane had to sleep on a park bench because her traumatic childhood memories were returning, and she didn't have anyone to turn to. And there's actually a music video.



Enjoy! I will revel in my one moment of music sophistication where I've discovered indie groups. 4-HMike would be so proud!

Law school did so much for my earning potential!

While I was driving home from work after a hellaciously looong day at work (I didn't get out of the office until 8:00 pm), I passed the B-N Family Video store. On its sign, it was advertising manager jobs at the store. The salary range? 30-50K! So yes, that means that experienced managers at the Family Video do have a higher salary than my salary. And they probably only have to work 5 days a week, every week. While I am working another Saturday. Good to know my public interest work is so valued.

Must remember that my work is important and rewarding! Really! It is! And I can afford my rent, gas, loan payments and the occassional splurge at Old Navy, so my salary is fine. Moving on now.

Comfort me with books! Anne of Green Gables

I figured here at COAGUBL, it was time to introduce a new list category - Comfort Me With...! Yes, I realize I'm aping the title of Ruth Reichl's memoir Comfort Me With Apples. But I doubt the phrase "comfort me with" if copyrighted. Heck, I'm not even sure if that phrase could be copyrighted. It's at times like this that I wish that I took Copyright Law in law school, but the 8:15 start time was a bit of a deterrent. Like with my other entries, this entry will likely devolve into many anecdotes and overuse of parentheses (I'm the next William Goldman!). I decided I shall start with books. There may be some overlap with my guilty pleasures list, but my comfort entertainment is usually at least middle-brow.

Like with guilty pleasures, I tend to seek out comfort things more than I probably should. Furthermore, many people I know, have more high brow comfort books. My college friend Hacquecita (yes, I realize the blog I linked to is over three years old, but her insights are interesting!) once listed in her Facebook profile that she rereads Henry James (I think??) once a year. When things got too stressful for my college roommate Shy Violet, she would whip out her hardcover edition of Pride and Prejudice and get utterly absorbed in the lives of the Bennett sisters (SV was APPALLLED when I told her that I had never finished the book and that I thought it was "wordy and boring." I'm sure she'll continue to be disappointed that I still haven't read it past page 50.) And then there's the books I read...

Today, I will be discussing Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

The Basic Plotline: A plucky redheaded orphan, Anne Shirley, is mistakenly sent to live with spinster brother and sister pair, Marilla and Matthew Cuthburt, at Green Gables in Avonlea on Prince Edward Island, even though they asked the orphanage to send them a boy. Anne quickly charms Matthew who wants keep her even though she's not a boy, and she even convinces crusty Marilla to let her stay. Anne then spends her time being brilliant in school, letting her imagination run away with her, and getting into trouble. In this book she also becomes "bosom friends" with Diana Berry, and gets into a three year long spat with Gilbert Blythe, who she may also have a crush on.

My Thoughts: I first tried to read this book over the summer between second and third grade. I received the box set of the eight Anne of Avonlea books from my Aunt Squeezer when I was in the second grade, and throughout the year I would try to read the book. But then I kept getting side tracked by the wonders of Judy Blume (Poor Peter Hatcher! But why does he have to be so mean to Sheila?), Beverly Clearly (Why didn't she write more books about Beezus? Why is it always the younger sisters that get all the attention?), The Baby-Sitters Club, and Sweet Valley Twins. However on the family roadtrip to Denver, Colorado to visit my Uncle ArmyMan, Aunt DogLover, and cousins Deborah (who is going to graduate from college this year!) and BabySarah (now she's a senior in high school -- crazy!), I actually made quite a bit of progress in the book. Then came the scene that so offended me that when we were taking a day trip in Thermopolis, Wyoming, I slammed the book down on the dashboard of my Aunt Squeezer's Toyota truck in disgust. I was outraged that Diana's mother would not let Anne and Diana hang out anymore because Anne inadvertantly got Diana drunk at the tea party when Anne mistakenly gave Diana currant wine instead of raspberry cordial. I was so angry by the injustice of it all that I declared to my entire family that I was not going to read the rest of the book because of such unfairness. My ever patient mother said okay dear, now stop ranting and eat your lunch.

I wound up later watching both mini-series and enjoying them quite a bit. (This will be later discussed in Comfort me with movies!). Shy Violet was also slightly disconcerted that I had never read the books, though she was slightly appeased when I told her that I loved the movies. In college I did plan on reading Anne of Green Gables because I felt it was time to let my outrage go. But then the Claremont Library did not have the book. (I think my family finally gave away my unread boxed set.) They had all the Betsy-Tacy books because the author was from the city, but not one copy of Anne of Green Gables. Ridiculous! Does Claremont have something against Canadian authors? Anyway, it was weird, and so I never read it then either.

Then finally when I was in my first year of law school in BU, I finally found a copy of AofGG at a thrift store in Allston, and then I FINALLY read the book, and I loved it. Now when life gets frustrating I reread certain parts of it, such as The Story Club chapter when Anne and her friends form a creative writing club and write melodramatic stories much to the consternation of Marilla and the amusement of the local minister and his wife, and Diana's Great Aunt Josephine (the fact that Kevin Sullivan left this out of the first movie should have been a sign that he was going to do his best to destroy the series in his later movies! To me the third and fourth movies don't exist!) or the first day of school when Anne breaks the slate over Gilbert's head because he called her "carrots" (oh young love!).

However, I am still hesitant about reading the later books because by the end of this book Anne was getting to be a bit practically perfect. First in her class! Foresakes college to teach in Avonlea and run Green Gables! Grows into her looks and is now beautiful! Has become so mature and calm! So I think the later books may be a bit tedious since Anne is still the brightest creature in all the land, but now she has matured so much that she doesn't get into much trouble to balance it out. However, I can reread Anne's story about the tragic friendship of Cornelia and Geraldine and always feel better. However, whenever I reread I always skip the part when Marilla falsely accused Anne of losing her amythest broach. It's just too painful, and I cannot deal. At least I have been able to deal with Diana and Anne being forced to be apart for about twenty pages.